.450 Rigby light bullet loads, where to start?

[Whiskey1]

Some of you may have seen my other thread. It's a long saga that has finally led me to having a Ruger No. 1 in .458 WinMag at my gunsmith being rechambered to .450 Rigby. Lots of stuff happened to get here too long and convoluted to relate except to say I want to take my first Cape buff in two years. I want to do it with a single shot. I am a very minor Ruger collector and FedEx destroyed the collector value of this rifle before I ever took possession.

Why a .450 Rigby? It is easier to load the rifle fast, under pressure, with bottle neck than straight wall cartridges. It operates at lower pressures than the Lott. I don't need to use a filler in the case as with .450 NE cartridge. Ruger has never produced a factory .450 Rigby. And the point of this thread...the cartridge has the capability to deliver 500 grains at 2250 well under max. Those loads are straight forward and easy to find. It should also be able to shoot 300-350 TTSX or TSX at 2650 to 2750 making it good for N. American hunting or larger plains game. I'd like to gain experience with the rifle using the lighter bullet loads before the buffalo hunt.

Can any of you help with a starting place, advice, or pointers on how to safely arrive at the data I need? The rifle won't be back to me for a few months so I'm just collecting data and components at the moment.

Thanks!

 

[dchamp]

The Woodleigh Loading Manual has data for the .450 Rigby with their bullets down to 400 grains. I would also recommend you call Ed at neconos.com and get QuickLoad. It's a internal and external ballistics program that has helped me in the past with loading cartridges that have little to no data available else ware.

 

[ChrisG]

Some of you may have seen my other thread. It's a long saga that has finally led me to having a Ruger No. 1 in .458 WinMag at my gunsmith being rechambered to .450 Rigby. Lots of stuff happened to get here too long and convoluted to relate except to say I want to take my first Cape buff in two years. I want to do it with a single shot. I am a very minor Ruger collector and FedEx destroyed the collector value of this rifle before I ever took possession.

Why a .450 Rigby? It is easier to load the rifle fast, under pressure, with bottle neck than straight wall cartridges. It operates at lower pressures than the Lott. I don't need to use a filler in the case as with .450 NE cartridge. Ruger has never produced a factory .450 Rigby. And the point of this thread...the cartridge has the capability to deliver 500 grains at 2250 well under max. Those loads are straight forward and easy to find. It should also be able to shoot 300-350 TTSX or TSX at 2650 to 2750 making it good for N. American hunting or larger plains game. I'd like to gain experience with the rifle using the lighter bullet loads before the buffalo hunt.

Can any of you help with a starting place, advice, or pointers on how to safely arrive at the data I need? The rifle won't be back to me for a few months so I'm just collecting data and components at the moment.

Thanks!

You can always wet your beak with trailboss loads. It's like shooting a large .22 that kicks like a 30-06. I do it all the time with the .416 Ruger. Measure how deep in the case the bullet sits and fill the case up until it is just shy of the base of the bullet. DO NOT COMPRESS THE POWDER. Now you have a plinking load! You could shoot hundreds of rounds of dirt cheap .45/70 cast bullets to get used to the rifle and just to link with on the range! And all without stressing your very expensive brass!

To boot, these loads could be used for deer or black bear and anything smaller to your heart's content until you find some other loads. Also, pretty much any load that works in the Lott will work here, it will just yield less velocity because of the massive case.

 

[8x68]

I started shooting Hornady 350gr FP bullets in my 450 Rigby when I first started playing with it. Didn't have anything heavier at the time. My CZ 550 liked 107.6gr's of IMR 4064. 3 shot vel avg was just over 3035fps (chronograph was 25ft from the muzzle 'cause any closer and it gets blowed up...go on ask me how I know!)

 

[Whiskey1]

8x68 that's exactly the kind of load I'm looking for. Thank you- rifle should be done in May. It's a #1 so plenty of strength there but I'll probably start at 90-92 and work up from there. I'd love to get the velocity you did but would be happy if I was getting good accuracy at anything over 2850.

 

[Beck]

Norma makes factory loads that will throw 500 grains at 2500 feet per second. I am not man enough for that, but I did load my Sako Brown bear with 500 grain Barnes TSX's up to 2350. Killed a buffalo with one shot at 110 yards.